Ruta Meilutyte of lithuania has broken a world record that was set only hours earlier in the women's 50-meter breaststroke at the world swimming championships.
In the second semifinal heat, Meilutyte touched in 29.48 seconds, beating the record set in the morning preliminaries by Russia's Yuliya Efimova. Efimova was swimming the same heat as the 16-year-old and touched second in 29.88, just off the mark of 29.78 she held for not even a day. She had broken the previous record set by American Jessica Hardy in 2009 at the height of the rubberized suit era, 29.80.
The 50 breaststroke is not an Olympic event. It was the second world record for Meilutyte at these championships. She also set one in the semifinals of the 100 breast. missy wins 5 golds, Katies’ 4th win
Missy Franklin won her fifth gold medal of the world championships with an easy victory in the 200-meter backstroke Saturday. The 18-year-old American tied the record for most golds by a woman at worlds, matching Tracy Caulkins of the U.S. and libby Trickett of Australia.
Caulkins won her five at the 1978 meet in Berlin, while Trickett did it at her home championships in 2007 at Melbourne. Franklin has one event remaining — the 400 medley relay – and a chance to join Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz and Kristin Otto as the only swimmers to win as many as six golds at worlds or the Olympics.
The winning time was 2 minutes, 4.76 seconds. Belinda Hocking of Australia took the silver, while Canada's Hilary Caldwell claimed the bronze. Katie ledecky capped a brilliant world swimming championships with her fourth gold medal and second world record. The 16-year-old American turned it on over the final laps to win the 800-meter freestyle in 8 minutes, 13.86 seconds.